


Missing you is the hardest part of we never said goodbye

by sunsetmondays



Category: MindCrack RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 06:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2841029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmondays/pseuds/sunsetmondays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Prompt Swap #6 from the prompt: After a long party, one Mindcracker is stuck cleaning it up. Another Mindcracker joins in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing you is the hardest part of we never said goodbye

"Long time, no see."

Beef jumped and looked up from where he'd been sweeping up mottled confetti from the wooden floor. In the quiet half-light of the now almost abandoned hall, a shadow of a figure stood leaning against the doorframe. "Pause?" The question, almost whispered, hung in the chilly night air as if it could be swept away by the barest breeze.

The figure took a step forward into the pale torch-light, an ever-ready lazy grin standing as a rigid wall between him and the unsettled pool of emotion in his eyes. It was a self-defence mechanism Beef knew all-too-well. The fact that it still remained, even now as they stood alone, showed just how much the months had let them drift apart.

"I didn't see you at the party."

Pause glanced down at his bare feet and kicked around a stray streamer. "I wasn't far..."

Beef could only remember - perched precariously on a branch high above spawn town while Pause effortlessly danced along unsteady limbs and gnarling branches. They'd stare up at the blinking stars and talk about the simple nothings. Fresh, crisp air would draw the weariness from their limbs and their laughter would echo down into the quiet streets of spawn - the good ol' days. If things weren't so different, Beef imagined that's where they'd be now: a place 'not far' but always far enough.

"I missed you." For all the months where we barely spoke a word. Beef took a breath, then a leap. "I always miss you."

Pauses grin cracked and flaked away. A sad smile stood in its place and it damn near broke Beef's heart. "I don't know what happened between us," Pause sighed.

"Neither do I." Beef offered Pause a warm smile - the least he could do after all this time.

Cold silence seeped into the space between them. The soft chime of note blocks echoed in the distance from some unseen place and the breeze whistled through the gaps under the doors. Feet shuffled and words were trapped behind bitten lips. Beef wrung his hands and Pause scraped his feet on the hardwood floor.

Pause turned to leave.

"We should get together some time and do something." Beef's voice cut through the silence, bringing warmth to the air.

"Yeah, we should." But still, it wasn't quite enough to break the ice that hung between them.

Beef knew it was no promise, but he couldn't help but hope. Anything was better than the melancholic dejection that lingered with the rare passing glace the two had shared over the last several months. When Pause made no other attempt to comment, Beef murmured, "I should probably get back to cleaning this up."

"Y-yeah," Pause said softly. "I guess I should go then." Brick by brick, the wall was rebuilt. Expression unreadable, he turned to walk away.

Beef stared at the confetti on the floor, blinking away the burn of the unsaid. Footsteps padded, almost inaudible, behind him and with a sigh of the whispering wind, he heard the door open then shut. Beef re-adjusted his grip on the broom and went back to sweeping,

I don't know what happened between us. Beef kicked at one of the neatly collected piles of confetti. It was only natural for him to take the blame. He'd had so many chances to talk, to call, to anything. But no, at every chance his lips had remained frozen, and the distance between them had grown ever colder. "Stupid," he muttered. Another pile of confetti was kicked into a flurry of colour.

"I know, I know, but no need to remind me," teased a voice from behind him. Beef turned, right into a face-full of confetti. Pause grinned lazily, a fist-full of confetti in one hand, a broom in the other. "I thought you might want a bit of a hand."

Beef sputtered, dumbfounded. Pause's devil-may-care smile filled the hall with an earnest warmth, not a single sign of cold in sight. "You-" Beef began. He bent over and scooped up some confetti, lobbing it right back at Pause.

"Beef?" Pause squeaked, taunting with a toothy grin. Beef returned with a grin of his own, another ball of confetti gathered in his hands.

"You're on."

~ ~ ~


End file.
